The disposal of waste is inherently linked with environmental and energy concerns. Separation of water into classes such as metal, plastic, paper, glass and bio-degradable makes it possible to dispose of waste in a manner beneficial to the environment and to conserve energy through recovery of useful materials for reuse. Many approaches have been developed to achieve this desirable result, including the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,173 to Deane has a rack, a central container in the rack with other containers on each side of the central container and a structure carried by and spaced from the rack for retaining newspapers and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,758 to Tavel has four separate cavities opening outwardly, each closed by a door to facilitate the separation and handling of paper, metal, glass and miscellaneous waste products. The paper door includes a slot through which the paper waste products are inserted. A plurality of containers are positioned within the separator receptacle adjacent each door to receive the particular waste product. Baskets are provided for holding the containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,903 to Hayes has a tubular metal cart accommodating a plurality of bins, a floor portion for bearing most of the weight of the individual bins and a common lid which accommodates the bins.
Other U.S. Patents of interest in the art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,018,776 to Hoffman, 1,021,872 to Kingsbury, 2,639,037 to Friend, 3,038,403 to Orelind, 3,145,646 to Levy, 3,800,503 to Maki, 4,084,495 to Paul 4,176,747 to Aho, 4,294,379 to Bard, 4,349,123 to Yang, 4,715,572 to Robbins, 4,721,226 to Yurko, 4,736,915 to Miller and 4,941,653 to Sterner.